The Carolina Panthers needed a spark. They needed balance. They needed someone to steady an offense that has swung wildly from week to week.
Against the best team in the NFC, Chuba Hubbard gave them all of it.
The fifth-year running back, once relegated to a secondary role and fresh off a calf strain that cost him two games, delivered his most complete performance of the season in the Panthers’ upset win over the Los Angeles Rams.
Hubbard finished with 17 carries for 83 rushing yards and added two catches for 41 receiving yards, including a 35-yard catch and run touchdown that provided Carolina’s first points of the afternoon. It was his first time topping 100 scrimmage yards all year, and his first trip to the end zone since Week 8.
Chuba Hubbard's surge could shift Carolina Panthers' backfield dynamic again
The Oklahoma State product's workload has quietly been trending up over the past few weeks, but this was the first time since returning from injury that he looked like the runner who powered last year’s second-half surge.
Rico Dowdle, who exploded with 389 rushing yards in the two games Hubbard missed, has cooled off. This opened the door for an actual split once again.
Against the Rams, that split looked much more like the early-season rotation: Hubbard handled 17 carries to Dowdle’s 18, but the former was more efficient (4.9 yards per carry to 3.2) and far more explosive as a receiver.
Hubbard’s longest run of the day was 10 yards, yet he consistently churned out six and eight-yard gains that helped the Panthers win the time of possession battle by more than 10 minutes. Against a Rams offense that can strike at will, those hidden yards mattered.
Dowdle still had 18 carries. But for the first time in weeks, Hubbard clearly looked like the more impactful runner as the Panthers ran the ball on 61.3 percent of their plays — by far their highest rate under Canales.
For Hubbard, this wasn’t just a big game. It meant something more profound. After injury setbacks, after losing his job, after watching Dowdle’s emergence, the 2021 fourth-round pick wasn’t promised another chance to reclaim his role. He took it anyway.
Carolina now heads into its bye week with a backfield suddenly worth watching again. The depth chart order may not be fully settled until Week 15 against the New Orleans Saints. The Panthers still have decisions to make, but this much is certain: choosing between two capable runners is the kind of problem good teams dream about.